The book Wabi Sabi – The Wisdom in Imperfection was written by Nobuo Suzuki. Wabi means rustic simplicity, subdued elegance, freshness, tranquillity, anomalies or imperfections that are beautiful. Sabi means beauty and calm in what is mature or aged, the pleasure felt when appreciating the imperfect.
Wabi Sabi Japanese philosophy believes
that
1.
Nothing is perfect.
2.
Nothing is finished.
3. Nothing lasts forever.
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According to Wabi Sabi, we
need to accept that we are imperfect and there is always room for growth and
evolution. A person who believes he is perfect is rigid and fossilized and
lacks flexibility and liveliness. Nothing is finished means continuous learning
once we realize we have scope for improvement. So, we realize we are in
perpetual beta and everything is still to be done and everything is
still to be lived. Nothing lasts forever – the young become old, a
television becomes outdated or obsolete, relationships fade away. Accepting
this helps us to enjoy the beauty of the moment.
Perfection does not exist in
the real world,
It merely dwells in the mind
of human beings.
Not even the kami (deities)
are perfect,
And nor do they aim to be so.
If the kami are not perfect,
Nor wish to be so,
Why do we humans aspire to
perfection?
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| A page in the book |
Nobuo gives an example of how we colour reality with our emotions. Suppose we send a message to our friend and the friend does not respond in ten minutes. We immediately think they don’t love me anymore; they are tired of me; do they have better friends; have plans with others and was I not invited. But, after 30 minutes the friend replies and says they were reading a book and the cellphone was charging in another room. This state is converse to the desired state of sunyata when our mind does not add to or eliminate anything from reality. Our ego comes between us and reality, leaving no place for sunyata.
While speaking about Wabi Sabi
art, Nobuo mentions certain characteristics that represent it. They are asymmetry,
imperfections, unimportant proportions, roughness, simplicity, keeping only
those elements that are necessary, intimate, natural, modest, used and rusty.
He mentions many examples of Wabi Sabi art such as a ceramic raku bowl named
“Mount Fuji”, partly finished Basilica Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and
Ikebana.
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| A page in the book |
“Your cellphone always plays that Debussy score in exactly the same way. You, on the other hand, with your emotions and flaws, will never play the score the same way twice. You will not play the same way on a sunny day when you have just fallen in love as on a cloudy day when a relative has just died. Music is not just a score – you too are part of the music. Art includes you in the experience; your human imperfections are also part of the work.”
Next, he discusses Wabi Sabi
as a way of life. When you live by Wabi Sabi, you are willing to finish
projects when they are 90% done, you get inspired by people better than you,
you are not conscious of other people’s expectations of you, and you appreciate
the beauty and miracle that you are. You accept that you have done the best
under a given set of circumstances and relax. And understand that you make
progress through trial and error.
During his stressful days in
Tokyo, Nobuo maintained a two-question diary.
What has given me energy
today?
1.
2.
3.
What has sapped me of energy
today?
1.
2.
3.
He tried to reduce or get rid of
the things that sapped him of energy.
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| A diagram on Happiness |
In a chapter on the school of minimalism, Nobuo lists 2 beliefs that led him to buy and accumulate new things. He believed that: If I have more and newer stuff, everything will be better; If I have all this, others will value me more.
Alternatively, he suggests
that we ask ourselves:
1.
Is it something I really need and desire with
all my heart?
2.
Might it be that my ego is what desires it to
please others or better myself?
Nobuo discusses books that
reflect Wabi Sabi philosophy. He mentions Essays in Idleness by Monk Yoshida
Kenko, Hymn to Life from a Hut by hermit poet Kamo no Chomei, and Life in the
Woods by Henry David Thoreau.
Two sections of the book are filled
with beautiful and colourful pictures of different examples of Wabi Sabi like
art, nature, and buildings.
The book has 159 pages and the
foreword is written by Hector Garcia – author of Ikigai, The Japanese secret to
a long and happy life. There are many more insightful discussions in the book
and so go for it!
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| A page in the book |
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